Improvement in spokes for wagon-wheels



POT'TS & OGDEN. Wagon-Wheel Spoke.

Patented May 10; "1870.

Fig.1.

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1 fihlliifid fitatcs start it at... Patent No. 102,861, dawz Ma 10,1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPOKES FOR WAGON-WHEEPS,

The Schedule referred to'in these Letters Patent and making part of the same We,RoBnnr Ports and NATHANIEL OeDn-sgof Chatham Village, in the town of Ohatham, conntyof Columbia and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in the Construction of Spokes for Wagon, Carriage, Cart, and other Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

Nature and-Object of the Invention. v Our invention relates principally to the form of the tenon of the spoke, thatis, making it alternately 0on icavo-convex or serpentine, so that the hold or bear'- ings of the two sides of the tenon shall be diagonally rather than transversely opposite .to each other; the

object being to facilitate the driving of the spoke,; 'to" reduce the 'teudeneyto's plit-the hub, to lock them all together at. thec'cnter or axle-hole, to enable the wood of the hub, in drying, to shrink close up to all parts of the tenon, andsubsequently, in the use of the wheel, to lessen the danger or liability of the hub splitting out aronnd'and adjoining the spokes.

- Description of theAccompang ing Drawing.

Figure 1 is a transverse section of a hub with our spokes inserted in all but two of the mortises.

Figure 2 is a perspective view' ofthe tenon' as we construct it. I

.Figure 3 is.an external view of thefentire hub be fore thespokes are inserted.

General Description.

This tenon, (see fig. 2,) is so constructed as to have in its length, two eoncavities and two convexities on each of its'sides, which extend entirelyacross the tenon, the last'or bottom ones terminating so as to give the end a somewhat hooked form, as shown in A 'tenon of this kind strains thehub far less in driving it, and tends less to split out the parts adjoining it in case any force or strain is applied, tending to withdraw the spoke, and, when, driven, (the-hub being steamed as usual,)..the wood of the hub surrounding the tenon, shrinksmore closelyto all its inequalities than to any other of the most approved forms now in use; l

We are aware that Letters Patent have been gran ted to David B. Goewey, No. 63,628, for mortising hubs ofwagon-whe'els and the tenons of spokes to fit in the wheels, April 9, 1867. In this hub he inserts what he calls the corrugated or dovetailedspoke.

The elevations and depressions on the two sides of the-tenon of this spoke, which constitute the corru gations, are a succession of inclined planes transversely opposite to each other, or a series of wedges, and it terminates as a truncated wedge. These all uniting at the center or axle-hole of the hub as a combination of" wedges, possess no advantage over the ordinary square tenon.

Another serious objection to this tenon' is, that at the periphery of the hub, where is the greatest strain and, therefore, the greatest needef strength, is its weakest point, being cut down next to the shoulder on the two opposite sides, so as to form the first pair of braces diametrically opposite to each other.

In ours, next tothe shoulder (I, and for about one? sixth the length, the tenon is straight, f f; fig. 2,) the whole strength of the wood preserved, and so it is the whole length, except the trifling taper necessary to allow them all to lock together around the axlehole A,

'Our tenon is serpentine, the elevations c c c c and depressions o cc 0, fig. 2, occurring in alternation or diagonally opposite to each other. The strain is, by

this mode of constructing the tenon, distributed more evenly through the hub than by any other in use.

The hooked ends h h. 71, 850., of our tenons look into or behind the curves, of the adjoining ones, so that they are all bound together at the center, and could not be easily withdrawn if all the'hub between the spokes 0 ca, 860., above the first curve on the tenons should be removed.

The mortises in m, 8tc., in the hub, fig. 3,.are out in the usual manner, and hub steamed, as usual, before the spokes a, aa, &c., are driven.

In our form there is no danger of any part of the mortise in the hub being left unoccupied by the tenon, but in tbe'corrugated tenon, the shoulders or enlargements beingdirectly opposite to each other, spaces are often leftundcr or adjoining these shoulders, which the wood of the hub, in drying, will not shrink to fill, thus leaving the spokes liable toloosen after a little use. a

We claim as ourinvention The spokes a, provided with shoulders d (1, straight portions f j, serpentine portionsc c, and hooks h, said i spokes being connected to the hub by passing through into the orifice thereof, and hooked over each other, substantially as set forth.

' ROBERT POTTS.

NATHANIEL OGDEN. Witnesses: I

' ABRAM Boemnos,

WHnnLne H. CLARKE. 

